From Bandcamp, “Founded in 2021, AEON OF AWARENESS is a band deeply rooted in Melodic Death Metal. They combine powerful, atmospheric riffs with the dark myths of the Māori and existential themes. Their lyrics delve into themes of loneliness, unending rage, and life's impermanence.” The album has nine songs, and it begins with an instrumental mood setter aptly called “Intro.” It paints a dual picture of somberness, and tension, and the music is quite delicate, seguing into. “Lebenslastm,” which has a slow and powerful entrance. From there, it rolls forward without a lot of fanfare. The pace stays slow, the vocals are guttural, and the drums pick up in double time.

“Hine-nui-te-pō” has a little more sonority, and when the main riff drops, it is full, and weighted. Some of the more obvious MeloDeath elements come from the dual guitar harmonies, but they don’t have quite as much presence as I had hoped for. “Te Atua” is a shorter song that features pretty but somber piano note, and this is a bit of a nice surprise. “Ira Di(e)mensions” is both faster and more powerful, but it relies on a riff that you have heard before. It picks up even faster after the half-way mark, but through six songs on the album, I was hoping for some other touches that often accompany the genre, like clean vocals, and more melody.

“Tūmatauenga” features a steadier riff at first, with some sober sounding spoken words. What comes out of the darkness from there is a massive wolf with large talons and fangs, and each heavy strike of the riff and drums brings new power to the table. “Fort Forest” is a slow, heavy grind of guitar, bass, and drums at first, before it picks up with haste. The melody line seems to work a little better here also, and they lay on it hard. “King Kauri” closes the album, and the may have saved the best for last. It’s blast over mountains, through valleys, cutting through winds and to greater lands that lie out of reach. This is the kind of harmony I was talking about.

Overall, this was a good album in the style. The band seems to have the Death side of the duality better than the melodic side, and that’s just an observation. If they take their strong base forward, and perhaps add more piano and melody, and even some more clean vocals every now and again, this album could have been excellent.